This invention relates to methods and apparatus for smoking food and in particular to using adapters to smoke food in encloseable cookers.
Smoking meat, and particularly pork, fish and fowl, in order to preserve it and add taste has long been practiced. Until a few years ago, it was generally done in a building, or smokehouse, set apart exclusively for that purpose. With the advent of our modern mobile society, however, came a demand for a moveable apparatus which could be used to smoke meat fish and fowl, as well as other meats, to the taste of the individual. In addition, meats already smoked can be substantially more expensive than non-smoked meats, further spurring the demand for such a device.
In response to this demand, certain apparatus appeared which were designed as large slow-cookers in which wood can be added to cause smoke. Examples of these are shown in Boswell, et. al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,094,295, and Hefling, U.S. Pat. No. 4,334,462. These are rather single purpose devices, however, and the average householder may not wish to purchase these devices for only occasional use.
A great number of people, however, already have a conventional home charcoal grill. It would thus make sense to provide an apparatus to enable a householder to adapt this charcoal grill to smoke food. One such apparatus is disclosed in Stewart, U.S. Pat. No. 4,140,049. This patent discloses a small pan hung below the upper grill, holding water, so as to reduce the cooking temperature of the meat placed over it. The fuel is then placed to the side opposite the meat. The problem with this design is that it restricts the capacity of the grill, with respect to both food and fuel, to a small portion of its total capacity as a charcoal grill.
This invention relates to an improved solution to these problems.